Eyes on the prize: life goals in the context of visual disability in midlife.

OBJECTIVE

to investigate implications of vision loss in midlife, identify life goals that are important to middle-aged adults and assess how vision loss interferes with goal pursuit.

DESIGN

cross-sectional exploratory study.

SETTING

Vision rehabilitation agency.

SUBJECTS

two hundred and sixteen middle-aged adults with visual impairment.

METHODS

telephone interviews composed of structured and open-ended assessments of life goals (i.e. priorities, plans, or hopes people have in their lives) and goal interference due to vision loss.

RESULTS

across the three assessed domains, functional goals were reported most often (N = 214), followed by social goals (N = 72) and psychological goals (N = 28). Among functional goals, career, daily tasks and mobility goals were identified by the highest percentage of participants. Family goals were identified most frequently for social goals, and life quality was identified most often for psychological goals. Vision-related goals occurred throughout the three domains, representing the majority of functional goals, a third of social goals, and almost half of psychological goals. Participants reported highest interference in functional and social goals and least in psychological goals. While participants reported moderate interference for most goals, markedly high interference was reported for daily tasks, mobility, independence and leisure goals. Goal identification was related to timing of onset of vision loss primarily for functional goals.

CONCLUSIONS

findings illuminate multifaceted goals held by middle-aged adults with vision impairment and how visual disability can interfere with goal pursuits. These findings suggest that identifying clients' life goals and the vision-related interference they experience in goal pursuits may be a helpful step in vision rehabilitation services.